Next Issue Review
This week we're having a look at the latest iteration of the Next Issue app for digital magazines. What we're seeing here is, at first, exactly what the nickname for Next Issue suggests: Netflix for magazines. Next Issue doesn't work with video, of course, it works with a digital magazine format. This system works with an entirely different kind of media than Netflix, working therefor with an entirely different set of abilities.
What you've got here is a subscription-based unlimited-viewing experience for digital magazines. You're getting the same magazines you'd get if you subscribed to the whole lot individually – same pages, same layout, same everything. Here, though, you don't have to pay for each magazine on its own.
Check out Essence, here, for example. One of the most interesting covers this month, Essence presents Prince at his finest. Essence has a close relationship with The Purple One and presents a story about and with Prince from behind the scenes.
The story you get is exactly as you'd see it in the paper Essence issue, and all images are included just as they'd be included in the magazine on the newsstand. Here you're able to get up-close and personal, too – you can zoom all you like.
While some digital format systems make you use the internet to access content such as this, Next Issue adds the ability to download magazines as you wish. You'll still need to read them inside the Next Issue app, but you have them even if you're on an airplane with no web.
You can also save individual pages – great for saving a page with a food recipe or a particularly strange image you find inspiring.
There are two pricing plans for Next Issue. The first is Unlimited Basic, which costs $9.99 USD and gives you access to 127 magazines – every monthly and annual magazine in the Next Issue collection. Unlimited Premium will cost you $14.99 and will give you every monthly, annual, and weekly magazine – some examples of weekly magazines include: The New Yorker, Time, and People.
If you're the sort of person that subscribes to magazines because you enjoy reading the stories within them and looking at the photos they present, Next Issue might just be what you're after. If you're addicted to the tactile feel of the paper in your hands, stick with paper – Next Issue lacks that one, single feature – and that's it.
NOTE: Images in this review are captured with the NVIDIA EVGA Tegra Note 7. We've also used the iPad version of Next Issue, and highly recommend both iterations.
Next Issue is without a doubt the finest digital magazine subscription service out there today. It's easy to use, it's extremely expansive, and it's affordable.